Nalini Jaywant (18 February 1926 – 22 December 2010) was an Indian actress who appeared in Hindi films in the 1940s and 1950s. Filmfare in their poll in the 1950s declared her the most beautiful woman in the movies. Actor Dilip Kumar described her "the greatest actress he ever worked with".
Background and personal life
Jaywant was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1926. At of age six years, she performed songs on All India Radio Mumbai station's Bal Sabha programme. By the age of ten, she was acting in school plays. Her popularity soared when she played the lead role in Rabindranath Tagore’s play Shrimatiji.[2]
Nalini's maternal aunt was Marathi singer and actress, Rattan Bai. In Dec. 1931, when Jaywant was 5, Rattan Bai's husband, Prabhakar Shilotri, died, prompting Rattan Bai and her 15 year-old daughter, Sarojini, to move in with the Jaywants. While they were in Mumbai, Rattan Bai and Nalini's dad's cousin, Kumarsen Samarth returned from studying cinematography in Germany. With his influence, Sarojini wanted to start acting. Nalini's father refused, prompting Rattan Bai, Sarojini, and Kumarsen to leave.
Sarojini started acting under the stage name Shobhna, and later married Kumarsen. Since 1983, she had been living mostly a reclusive life. In a quiet neighborhood in Chembur. Her neighbors were her co-stars Ashok Kumar and Trilok Kapoor.[citation needed]
Jaywant was married to director Virendra Desai in the 1940s. Later, she married her second husband, actor Prabhu Dayal, with whom she acted in several movies.[3]
Career
In her teens, Jaywant appeared in Mehboob Khan's Bahen (1941), a film about a brother's obsessive love for his sister. She performed in a few more movies like Gunjan directed by her husband Virendra Desai starring Balraj Sahni and Trilok Kapoor before filming Anokha Pyar (1948). In 1950, she garnered fame when she became a top star with her performances opposite Ashok Kumar in Samadhi and Sangram. Samadhi was a patriotic drama concerning Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army. Although the leading movie magazine of the day, Filmindia, called it "politically obsolete", it enjoyed success at the box office. Sangram was a crime drama in which Jaywant played the heroine reforming the anti-hero. She and Kumar further collaborated on films such as Jalpari (1952), Kafila (1952), Nau Bahar (1952), Saloni (1952), Lakeeren (1954), Naaz (1954), Mr. X (1957), Sheroo (1957) and Toofan Mein Pyar Kahan (1963).
Jaywant remained an important leading actress through the mid-1950s, appearing in such films as Rahi (1953), Shikast (1953), Railway Platform (1955), Nastik (1954), Munimji (1955), and Ham Sab Chor Hain (1956 film), The 1958 film Kala Pani, directed by Raj Khosla, was Jaywant's last successful movie, for which she won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. Bombay Race Course (1965) was the last film she made before retirement. After 18 years, she returned as a character actress in Nastik, which marked her last film appearance.
Death
Jaywant died on 22 December 2010, aged 84, at her bungalow of 60 years at Union Park, Chembur, Mumbai, India. Her death was not noticed by anyone until an ambulance carried her body after 3 days of her demise. Jaywant's neighbours reported that she had secluded herself from society and had not been meeting people after Dayal's death in 2001. Her relatives were also not in touch with her for long.[4]
